José-Luis Novo

José-Luis Novo

Conductor

Resident Conductor

One of Spain's most promising conductors, JOSÉ-LUIS NOVO is currently music director and conductor of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (MD) and the Binghamton Philharmonic (NY). Prior to these appointments, he served as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of both music director emeritus Jesús López-Cobos and former music director Paavo Järvi, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the late Erich Kunzel. He has been on the conducting faculty at the Eastern Music Festival since 1999, where he currently holds the position of Resident Conductor.

Some of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra's highlights during Maestro Novo's tenure include a 2006 debut concert appearance at the Music Center at Strathmore, a 2008 ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award, a national broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, a 2012 return appearance at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center with world-renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves for the ASO's 50th Anniversary Gala Concert, and the launching of the ASO's first commercial CD commemorating the 300th anniversary of the signing of Annapolis' Royal Charter. Additionally, the League of American Orchestras recognized the ASO's potential and selected it nationwide as one of only five participants in the Institutional Vision Leadership Initiative two-year seminar (2005-2007). The successful partnership between Mr. Novo and the ASO has received consistent critical acclaim: "Not only did he have an outstandingly clear view of Ravel's piece, but he was able to bring his musicians to the peak of instrumental execution as they kept up with his every nuance and inflection. The end result was one of the most extraordinary readings of Ravel's well-known piece that I have even encountered: fast without blurring instrumental lines; sinuous and alluring without distortion or over-statement; and just plain wonderful." The Capital Gazette. "Novo's feeling for Bartók's arch form unified it all and gave this performance a sweep and power that were truly memorable." The Washington Post. "...the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra unleashed a nasty, unremittingly exciting Shostakovich 10th that showed off the strengths of the ensemble that already has been reconfigured during Novo's brief tenure." The Baltimore Sun.

Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include debut appearances with the Rochester and Fresno Philharmonic Orchestras, return appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, Symphoria (former Syracuse Symphony), Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, and an impressive Kimmel Center debut in Philadelphia conducting the Curtis Institute Orchestra in a last minute replacement for an ailing Maestro Otto Werner Mueller. Prior guest conducting engagements have included, among others, appearances with the Symphony Silicon Valley, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Syracuse, Modesto, Tulsa, Windsor, Stamford, and Tallahassee Symphonies; the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; the Cleveland and Abilene Philharmonics; the Tenerife, Principado de Asturias, and Castilla y León Symphony Orchestras; the City of Granada Orchestra; the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra at the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Vallés Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, and the Echternach Festival Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and on tour in Luxembourg and Germany.

While maintaining a relevant professional conducting career, Mr. Novo has also developed a reputation as a keen educator of young musicians. He has held the positions of music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra; associate conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra; and assistant conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has conducted many noteworthy college and youth orchestras such as the Curtis Institute Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the University of Maryland, Bard Conservatory and Ithaca College Symphony Orchestras, the National Youth Orchestra of Spain and the Portuguesa State Youth Orchestra of the Venezuelan El Sistema.

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